For Immediate Release Media Contact: Brian Jensen Regional Vice President Hospital Council 916-552-7564 bjensen@hospitalcouncil.

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Hospital Council Urges Legislature to Spare All Seniors from Deep Medi-Cal Cuts
Preserving Access to Hospital-Based Skilled-Nursing Care is Critical to States Most Vulnerable Patients Sacramento (August 29, 2013) As the 2013 legislative session draws to a close, local hospital leaders urge lawmakers to reverse draconian Medi-Cal cuts and protect access to hospital-based skilled-nursing care. Earlier this month, the state partially exempted rural hospital nursing facilities from scheduled Medi-Cal payment cuts going forward but a number of challenging issues remain including retroactive cuts reaching back to 2011. Five hospitals in the Motherlode and Lake Tahoe regions will still owe the state over $15 million. These cuts will endanger and reduce care for the regions elders at Barton Memorial Hospital in South Lake Tahoe, John C. Fremont Healthcare District in Mariposa, Oak Valley District Hospital in Oakdale, Sonora Regional Medical Center in Sonora, and Tahoe Forest Hospital in Truckee. Despite the states partial relief, the retroactive repayment would still have a harsh impact on rural hospitals from Tahoe to Yosemite which serve the most medically-needy seniors in the Sierra Nevada, said Brian Jensen, Hospital Council Regional Vice President. We urge the legislature to approve and the Governor to sign AB 900 to prevent these debilitating cuts. Three hospitals in Sacramento and Turlock are slated to absorb the shock of the full reimbursement cut. Not only will they owe the state over 16 million in retroactive pay reductions, but must also face ongoing cuts in payment for caring for seniors in Bruceville Terrace of Methodist Hospital in Sacramento, Sutter Oaks Nursing Center Midtown in Sacramento, and Emanuel Medical Center in Turlock. Medi-Cal beneficiaries make up nearly 80 percent of the patients receiving hospital-based skilled-nursing care in California. These patients often require specialized or medically complex care that freestanding nursing facilities and other health care providers do not provide. In the

last five years, approximately 40 hospital-based skilled nursing facilities in California (about onethird) have closed due to financial issues. In San Diego, for example, the 96-bed Palomar Continuing Care Center in Escondido (San Diego County) has already closed its doors as a result of the Medi-Cal cuts. The Hospital Council and the California Hospital Association are part of a statewide bipartisan coalition supporting Assembly Bill (AB) 900, authored by Assemblymember Luis Alejo, (D Salinas), designed to relieve hospital nursing facilities by partially reversing the cuts. The coalition includes labor, business, local government, non-profits and health care leaders throughout the state including the California State Association of Counties (CSAC), the Association of California Healthcare District, and the Rural County Representatives of California (RCRC) AB 900, currently in the Senate Appropriations Committees Suspense File, may be considered on Friday August 30. The bill has received unanimous bipartisan support. Not a single lawmaker has cast a no vote on the bill during roll calls in both the Assembly and the Senate.
The Hospital Council of Northern and Central California is a nonprofit hospital and health system trade association established in 1961, representing 183 hospitals in 50 of Californias 58 counties from Kern County to the Oregon border. The Hospital Councils membership includes hospitals and health systems ranging from small, rural hospitals to large, urban medical centers, representing more than 38,000 licensed beds.

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